All Over Albany

Large fire in Troy, TU Center naming deal extended, questions about Cohoes mayor's self appointment, spotting bobcats

Large fire on Congress Street in Troy
Two people were injured in a large fire in a multi-unit building on Congress Street in Troy (map) Monday night, the Troy Fire Department says. The fire also displaced 20 people. [WNYT] [News10]

PFOA
Of drinking water samples from 50 homes in Petersburgh recently tested for PFOA, 20 had levels above the EPA standard. The homes are within a half mile of the Taconic Plastics site. [TWCN] [News10]

TU Center naming deal
The Albany County Legislature approved a new deal that keeps the "Times Union Center" name on the downtown Albany arena -- and cuts back the amount the arena is required to spend on advertising each year with the paper. [TU]

State education funding
One of the conclusions from a new report from the state comptroller's office: the state's arrangement for distributing school aid could be "simplified, more equitable and transparent." (State school aid -- specifically how much each district gets -- is a big issue because districts such as Schenectady say they've been consistently shortchanged. School aid is also a big chunk of the state budget.) [NYS OSC] [TU]

Cohoes mayor
The new mayor of Cohoes, Shawn Morse, has appointed himself CEO of the Cohoes Industrial Development Agency, a job that pays $10,000 -- is that an ethical problem? [TU+]

Mohawk Harbor street names
The latest turn in the drama over proposed street names for the Mohawk Harbor development in Schenectady: there didn't actually end being that much drama about it at a public hearing. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

Parking requirements
The Schenectady Planning Commission is tapping the brakes on its plan to recommend eliminating parking minimums for downtown residential projects. [Daily Gazette]

Dueling economic development orgs
A look at the tension in Saratoga County over the two groups competing to be the county's primary economic development marketing org. [Daily Gazette]

Speaking of economic development there: The Saratoga County IDA is buying 19 acres in the Luther Forest Tech Park, which officials hope is a step toward finding a company other than GlobalFoundries that will set up there. [Daily Gazette]

Moldy
Schuylerville's Department of Public Works supervisor says his crew has had to work in a facility that's had black mold for eight years -- and employees have suffered a range of ailments. But the village's mayor says there hasn't been money to fix the problem. [News10 [TWCN]

Bobcats
A photographer recently captured a shot of two bobcats crossing a road in Stillwater. He said to WNYT: "It's been a long time since my heart pounded like that." [Daily Gazette] [WNYT]

Stuff going on today

The Blue-Sky Boys
Capital Rep opens its production of The Blue-Sky Boys, which is about engineers involved in NASA's efforts to send people to the moon. The show runs through April 3. Tuesday-Sunday various times - $20 and up

Siena in the CBI
The Siena men's basketball team takes Morehead State in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational at the TU Center. (This is the post-season tournament Siena won a few years back.) Tuesday 7 pm - $8 and up

(UAlbany is also in this tournament. It plays at Ohio University Wednesday night.)